United States: Fort Campbel Soldier Charged with Bribery

Monday acting U.S. Attorney John E. Kuhn, Jr. announced charges against a Fort Campbell, Kentucky Army Sergeant for his role as a public official, for conspiring with another to commit an offense against the United States, namely bribery.

According to the federal information, filed in U.S. District court in Paducah Monday, Ramiro Pena, Jr., age 43, received and accepted illegal bribes totaling $100,000 U.S. currency and a Rolex watch, in return for being influenced in the performance of an official act, that is, ensuring the successful approval and processing of contracts to restock supplies while serving at Humanitarian Air Yard (“HA Yard”) at Bagram Airfield (“Bagram”) in Afghanistan.

From January 1, 2008 through September 30, 2009, Pena worked as a U.S. Army Sergeant First Class at the HA Yard at Bagram as a Project Purchasing Officer (“PPO”) who maintained the supply orders and made sure the inventory levels were never low.